The Weird, Dark Twist 'Pokémon's Story Almost Took

Pokémon has gone through a number of changes since its beginning. We've written before about how Pokémon seem like an alien invasion and about Ash's POS dad. The series has run the gamut from overly dark, to cartoonishly hopeful, to everything in-between. But if the anime's original director had gotten his way, Pokémon would've ended with the reveal that just like Rabbit, Pooh, and Eeyore, Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur were only real from a certain point of view.

That's right, the Grand Future Finale for Pokémon would've revealed that all of it was a dream all along. Ash's dream, to be specific.

The finale would catch up with an older Ash after a revolution led by Pikachu and quelled by Meowth, who, alone in understanding Pokémon and humans, brokers the peace. Of course, it doesn't matter the movie would immediately reveal after that Pokémon are as real as, well, Pokémon.

This ending wasn't a random idea either; the original teaser for Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back features an older Misty and a young girl going to meet Pikachu, all shot in odd, soft lightning, cut with scenes of the girl and Misty imagining clouds as Pokémon, as a song about fantasy in your pocket plays. But the original director outlined his ending in a post, going beyond the base idea of Pokémon as imaginary things that children fantasize about -- like fairies or that bell from Polar Express.

It would've gone beyond that, though, and had Ash as an old man hearing his mother call for him only to wake up, at the beginning of the series, a 10-year-old again, his first day as a Pokémon trainer before him. 

At least one kid's show really was going to end with the protagonist waking up to realize it was all a dream all along, and it was Pokémon.

You can find Tara Marie @TaraMarieWords, get the comic she wrote part of here Trailer Park Boys: Bagged and Boarded and read more she's written at Panel X Panel, the Hard Times, or by just scrolling up and reading this article again.

Top Image: The Pokémon Company